The individuals were sentenced to death in September by a court in eastern China’s Zhejiang province after being extradited from Myanmar in 2023. Prosecutors said the group was responsible for crimes including intentional homicide, large-scale fraud and the operation of underground casinos. Although the actions took place in Myanmar, Chinese courts said they had jurisdiction because the victims were Chinese citizens.
Court rulings said the Ming family’s operations generated more than $1.4 billion (10 billion yuan) in fraudulent proceeds and were linked to the detention and abuse of workers at scam compounds, resulting in the deaths of at least 14 Chinese nationals and injuries to many others.
“These efforts have achieved remarkable results. China will continue deepening international law enforcement cooperation, step up efforts of combating telecom fraud and online gambling and other related cross-border crimes, and eradicate the problems of gambling and scam.”
Scam compounds and cryptoThe Ming family was one of the so-called “four families”—alongside the Bai, Liu and Wei clans—that dominated criminal activity in the region for years. Their enterprises, which expanded rapidly after 2015, spanned online scamming, casinos and drugs, as well as real estate and hotels, with syndicates having close ties to local political and military elites. Some family members held official posts, while clans were said to maintain private armies.
Based in the border town of Laukkaing, which was transformed from a quiet outpost into a hub for casinos and illicit businesses, the Ming clan ran its empire for roughly two decades. During a Chinese-backed insurgency against the military junta in 2023, local militias seized control of the area and handed over ethnic Chinese crime figures to Beijing. The family patriarch, Ming Xuechang, reportedly died by suicide before he could be detained.
In total, 39 members of the Ming family and their associates were sentenced in September last year. In addition to the 11 executions, five defendants received death sentences with a two-year reprieve—a penalty often commuted to life imprisonment—while another 11 were given life sentences. The remaining defendants received prison terms ranging from five to 24 years. Executions in China are typically carried out by lethal injection, though authorities did not specify the method used in this case.
Appeals by those sentenced to death were rejected by the Zhejiang Provincial Higher People’s Court, with the Supreme People’s Court later approving the executions. Authorities said the crimes involved were “particularly heinous,” with severe consequences that warranted the harshest punishment under Chinese law.
The Ming case is part of a broader series of prosecutions targeting Myanmar-based crime families. In November, a court in Shenzhen sentenced five members of the rival Bai family to death for their role in running dozens of scam centers, along with casinos, drug operations and prostitution rings. Cases involving members of the Wei and Liu families are still ongoing.
